If you prepare taxes, your busy season has a date. Most of the work that decides how it goes happens before that date, while the phone is still quiet and you have time to look at your own Google profile the way a stranger would.
This article is about the profile, not about tax advice.
Why November
In January the phone rings all day and nobody has time to rewrite a service description. In November you do. People also start looking earlier than you think: they check who is open, who speaks their language and who seems trustworthy, long before they book.
A profile you fix now is already working when the rush begins. A profile you fix in February is working after the first wave has chosen someone else.
The profile checklist for tax preparers
1. The right primary category
Google's help says to choose a primary category that best describes your business, and to pick a specific category from the list. You can add secondary categories, but only for things you really do. Pick the one you want to be known for and keep the rest honest.
2. Services in the words customers use
List the services you really offer, in plain words: personal returns, small business returns, self-employed, amended returns, ITIN applications if you handle them. Each description should answer the question behind the search: what is included, what the customer needs to bring and what happens next.
3. Photos of the real office
People want to know where they're going. Upload real photos of your entrance, your waiting area and your desk. Skip stock images. A face people recognize helps them walk in.
4. Season hours and special hours
Google's help explains special hours for holidays and other changes in your schedule. Plan your season now: later closing hours, Saturday availability, deadlines and the days you're closed. Keep your regular hours as "Open with main hours" so special hours show.
5. Languages and how to book
If you serve customers in Spanish, say it in the description, the services and the posts. Add the way you prefer to be contacted: call, text or booking link.
Credentials: say what's true and link to the IRS
The IRS says paid tax preparers need a PTIN, that it expires at the end of every calendar year, and that renewal begins in mid-October. Its Annual Filing Season Program page explains the voluntary program for preparers who aren't attorneys, CPAs or enrolled agents. If you hold a credential, describe it in your profile exactly as it is, and don't claim anything you don't hold. Customers can check these on IRS pages.
What the profile should never promise
Don't write "biggest refund," "guaranteed" or any result you can't control. The profile describes the service and the process: who you help, how an appointment works, what to bring. If your customers have legal or tax questions, they should talk to a professional about their own case.
Turn the questions from last season into content
The best material for your profile is what customers asked you last year. Make a short table and give each question a home:
| What the customer asks | Where the answer goes |
|---|---|
| "What do I need to bring?" | A post and the services description |
| "Do you do business and personal returns?" | The services list |
| "Do you speak Spanish?" | The description and the profile's questions and answers |
| "How long does the appointment take?" | A post before the season opens |
| "Are you open on Saturdays?" | Hours and special hours |
This is the continuous part of the work. Every season the questions change a little, and the profile should change with them.
A simple November plan
You don't have to do everything in one afternoon. A realistic order:
- First week: check the category, the name, the address and the phone number. These are the basics people use to decide whether it's really you.
- Second week: rewrite the services and the description, with the languages you speak and how to book.
- Third week: add real photos and plan the season hours and special hours.
- Fourth week: write two or three posts that answer the most common questions, so the profile has recent activity before the season opens.
Then put a reminder on the calendar to look at it again in January and after the filing deadline. The profile isn't something you finish. It's something you keep faithful to the office you actually run, season after season.
Check what a stranger sees
When you finish, open your profile on your phone, in a private window, and read it as if you had never heard of your office. Can you tell what you do in five seconds? Do you know whether they speak your language? Is it clear how to book? If a friend who isn't in the business can answer those, a customer will too.
Questions to ask anyone who offers to manage your profile
- Will you learn how my office works before you touch the profile?
- Who writes the services and posts, and do they know tax offices?
- How will you keep the hours and special hours current during the season?
- What will you never claim on my behalf?
- Is the profile owned by my business, with me as owner?
The short version
Fix your tax preparer profile in November: the most specific primary category, services in plain words, real photos, season and special hours, the languages you speak and the credentials you really hold. Never promise a refund. Then keep it updated, because the questions change every season.
To see how your profile looks to a stranger today, request an audit or see our Google profile service.